Coutinho vs Gotze (Stats Battle): Should Liverpool Move For The German Ace?

Coutinho vs Gotze: Stats Battle

The arrival of Jurgen Klopp hasn’t seen the influx of players that many Liverpool fans would have expected. With just 10 days to go in the January transfer window, it might be too much to expect a big name signing coming into the club as Klopp first learns about his players and makes a final decision in the summer.

The tabloids though are having a field day and one player who has been linked with a move to the club is Mario Gotze. The Germany international and Bayern Munich star hasn’t played as many games as he would have liked this season and he could be willing to make the move across to England and be reunited with the former Borussia Dortmund manager.

Gotze did enjoy some of his best years under Klopp before he joined Bayern and this could be a move for the German to get more playing time and star for a club that is bereft of any real world class talent.

There might be a bit of a quizzical look especially from Philippe Coutinho who is considered to be Liverpool’s best attacking option and both the players, Gotze and Coutinho do play in similar positions.

Liverpool have an array of players who can play as the attacking midfielder and paying a huge transfer fee for a player in a position that is so well populated might not make sense. Gotze though is an incredible table and we take the help of Squawka.com to compare the two players.

We only look at per 90-minute stats for both Coutinho and Gotze from their respective league campaigns.

Brazil vs. Germany: Closer than the World Cup semi-final

Although Coutinho has played almost 10 games more than Gotze this season in the league campaign, it is the German’s passing which is better than Coutinho’s. Gotze provides 47 successful passes per 90 minutes compared to Coutinho’s 35 and the German also boasts a better pass completion with 88% compared to the Brazilian’s 78% this season.

However, it is Coutinho that provides more forward passes per 90 minutes with 29 compared to Gotze’s 23. In the key passes category, it is Coutinho that just loses out to Gotze as the Bayern Munich star provides 1.5 key passes per 90 while Coutinho comes in with 1.46 per 90 minutes.

In the chances created stat it is Gotze who trumps Coutinho with 2.14 chances created per 90 minutes and the Brazilian comes in with 1.65 chances created per 90. In the goal scoring department, it is Coutinho that takes over from Gotze as he manages 0.32 goals per 90 while the German comes in with 0.21 goals per 90 minutes.

In a surprising stat, it is Coutinho that actually wins more take-ons with a 61% success rate compared to the 47% for Gotze. The stats clearly show that Gotze hasn’t had all that great a season for Bayern and in some stats, he is actually better by Coutinho. Moving for the German would still be a great deal for Liverpool fans but fitting him with Coutinho, Lallana and Firmino in the side would be a big job in the hands of Jurgen Klopp.